Tuesday, March 3, 2015

For me, the best part of any turf conference is getting home. After spending a week away from Highlands networking, telling stories, comparing notes and meeting new superintendents, I develop fresh perspective and an immense appreciation for all we have at HCC! It is always good to be reminded of this. HCC is a rare situation in the golf business. We have a wonderful staff at every corner and most importantly, a caring and involved membership!

Today, we are spraying greens with another preventative snow mold fungicide application. The choice of fungicides today is Tartan, a Bayer product, sprayed at a rate of 1 oz per 1000ft2. This will hold us over until spring when the disease is no longer a threat. We are spraying both Greens and approaches. This is one of a few times a year when I allow the sprayer out on the greens instead of walk spraying the greens.

Our handiwork with the lathe is evident below. You can always buy stuff like this in an endless amount of catalogues sent to us but it is way more unique and special to make our own.

This year, I am pouring concrete pads to place our trash boxes on. It will be better on the boxes and hopefully help with the rotting of wood. I also think it will help these areas by giving them a cleaner appearence. The concrete is also being stained in order to give it a dark, earth tone color.

After the warner temps (high 40's) and rain, a majority of the snow is gone. I did notice this spot on Saturday which contains deer tracks. Deer are something you don't see regularly in our area. Coming from Pennsylvania, I always thought this area would have a very high deer population. However, it isn't the case. In 14 years, I think I have seen only 3! I am told it is a food source issue. When you get to areas surrounding the Highlands Plateau, deer are plentiful.

Monday, March 2, 2015

This weeks forecast is calling for a slight chance of rain through today and into tonight. Tuesday there is an 80% chance of rain continuing on into Wednesday and potentially changing to snow on Thursday. Temperatures will reach into the 50's dropping slightly Thursday then warming into the weekend.

On the golf course this week we have our work cut out for us. With weather holding us inside most of last week we have plenty to get accomplished on the course! Today the chipper crew will be back out tying up a few loose ends and details on the course. Matthew will be finishing up with the stump grinder this week allowing him to start on a few other projects around the course. Please continue to check back with us through the week for any updates and projects taking place!

Friday, February 27, 2015

Below you can see we are busy in the shop first thing this morning. With about 4" of snow still on the ground we have plenty of things lined out for the day inside. Temperatures are forecast to reach into the upper 30's this afternoon causing some snow to finally melt! Next week there appears to be yet another weather front moving through that will thankfully be dropping only rain. Please continue to check back with us through the week!

Thursday, February 26, 2015

This afternoon, I had a lunch meeting with my fellow members of the Superintedent Magazine Editorial Review Board. This includes my counter parts from Peeble Beach Golf Links, Double Eagle Club, Traverse City Golf Club and Northshore Golf Club.

This afternoon was also the GCSAA Annual meeting and elections. As the Carolinas GCSA Chapter Delegate, I attend to cast votes on behalf of our chapter, the largest chapter in the US.

This article shows some of the newer technology in golf maintenance now just really hitting the market. Like any business decision, I try to weigh how long it will take to get the return on investment. In this case, how much savings in fungicides are required to make up for purchasing this technology? At this point, in my opinion, this doesn't make financial sense just yet. If the price comes down it may be more interesting.

In what is becoming the “Year of the Smart Sprayer” at GIS, Toro is introducing the GeoLink™ system for the Multi Pro 5800 initially, with plans to adapt it to a wider range of sprayers in the future. Availability is expected this summer.

Toro has partnered with Topcon Positioning Systems to provide the all-new GPS spraying solution. In an effort to maximize accuracy, the system will be available in both Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) or Real Time Kinematic (RTK) correction system configurations. Using the RTK system, a GeoLink-equipped sprayer is accurate and repeatable to within 1cm of set parameters.

Support for GeoLink will be offered through the Toro National Support Network (NSN), and includes troubleshooting and rapid replacement services. The initial release for the new GeoLink system will be exclusive to North America, with plans to eventually introduce the product in global markets.

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I met with the president of this company and looks like we will be able to participate in their trials through Clemson University. They hope to have EPA approval by 2017. This could be a game changer in the Poa annua world!

I also spoke with representatives from Billy Bunkers. I mentioned before my goal of removing the sand and fabric liners from our bunkers and then Spraying the adhesive on our existing gravel. We would then install new sand. I now have the estimated cost to present to the green committee to complete this project.

Finally, there is always that one product that makes me chuckle. This individual invented a sand press which allows golf courses to logo their bunkers! Good idea or bad idea??? I will let you decide!

This year all the snow appears to have fallen in the past 2 weeks in Highlands. With 4" still on the ground from Monday, we received another 6" last night. The maintenance staff is out this morning first thing plowing and shoveling the club roads and administration parking lots.

Below the dredgers are still out pumping! Fortunately our temperatures have remained above freezing through the day, keeping the ice level on the lake to a minimum.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Hopefully this panoramic photo gives you a feel of the scale of this show. I can't thank you enough for allowing me to be apart of it and attend it each year. As an HCC employee, it means a lot that you the member, value my continuing education.